Maryam Umar Mairiga, an SSS III student, memorised the entire glorious Qur’an within three years, juggling her academic activities with Tahfeez (Qur’an memorisation). At her waleemah held last Sunday in Abuja, the 17-year-old, who aspires to be a haematologist, spoke to Daily Trust on how she achieved the feat, the strategy employed and how committing the 114-chapter Holy Book to memory enhanced her academic performance in school.
How do you achieve the feat?
There is a saying that nothing good comes easy. It wasn’t easy to memorise the entire Qur’an because I was juggling the Qur’an memorisation class with school activities.
When I started in 2017 (then I was in JSS 1), there was this phobia of starting secondary school and then attending Tahfeez (Qur’an memorisation) class and still going to another Islamiyyah (Arabic school). I don’t think it was feasible but Alhamdulillah, I managed to stand firm and complete it.
How long does it take you to memorise the entire Qur’an?
It took me about three years to memorise the Qur’an. I started in 2017 and completed it in 2020.
Is there any particular strategy you employed?
The strategy was given by my Qur’an teachers. They made us adopt something that was easy for us, like memorising two pages a day. One page after Fajr (dawn) prayer and the second one after Magrib (sunset) prayer. During that period, I was able to balance my social, academic and family time.
How do you feel memorising the Qur’an?
I memorised for the sake of Allah. I just want to be classified among the righteous believers whom Allah will favour on the day of judgement.
Would you say memorising the Qur’an, in a way, enhances your academic performance?
Yes, it does and makes my studies easy for me because if I look at the sciences in the Qur’an, I can easily relate it with what we are being taught in science class. It is an added advantage for me.
After memorising the Qur’an, what is the next thing?
The next stage now is learning the Tafseer (the exegesis) of Qur’an and working with it. I have learnt the meaning of the last ten chapters and am now learning the meaning of the upper part.
Working with the Holy Qur’an is actually the hardest part because we can’t just learn to recite and memorise it but must also implement its teachings in our lives.
How will you advise your peers?
They should be steadfast because Qur’an memorisation requires consistency. If you are not consistent, the Qur’an will leave you. One beautiful thing I have learned about the Qur’an is that if you take hold of it, it will guide you in your academic and social life. So, you just have it first and then it will make other pursuits easier for you.
